


A Funeral by the Train Tracks

by naivephilosopher



Category: Night In The Woods (Video Game)
Genre: Animal Death, Anxiety, Funeral, Gen, Headcanon, Mild Blood, Mild Gore, Mild Language, anxiety attack, but I went overboard a bit, still shortish, strange character depictions, this was originally just supposed to be a drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-10-31 21:24:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10907751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naivephilosopher/pseuds/naivephilosopher
Summary: Mae and Lori go down to the tracks, as they do. When they get there, they find something that sends Lori into a panic. Mae has to diffuse the situation, and the two hold a funeral.





	A Funeral by the Train Tracks

**Author's Note:**

> I have this headcanon about Lori. It's a bit weird and not fully suppourted by canon, so maybe it's an au? I don't know. This whole thing might be silly, but here it is nonetheless!

By the tracks there was usually very little living, save for the odd weed or two that poked out from under the rails. Red, dry dirt flew about as Mae and Lori took their usual stroll over to their favourite sitting spot between the tracks. Most of the dirt there was pretty packed, so it didn't blow around as much, and the forest trees tended to keep the sun away unless it was directly overhead. It was almost early in the evening, as it usually was when they came out, so the spot would be ideal.

As they walked along, Lori was telling Mae about the makeup and effects techniques they would use in the older horror films and how she'd started to dabble in makeup because of that. Without missing a beat, Mae asked her to turn her into the most terrifying ghoul that's ever been. To that, Lori called her bluff.

"Would you really want to have to clean all that guck off of you?" She asked, stuttering a little.

"God no," Mae replied, "but it'd still be cool to scare the pants off my friends."

"What if they thought you were actually a ghoul or a zombie, though?" Lori asked.

"I hadn't thought about that, actually."

They kept walking and soon they could see their spot. A black rock that looked like a boot jutted from the ground, landmarking their alcove. Something was off, though. There was someone already laying in their spot.

"Uhh . . ." Mae looked over to Lori, "Do you know who that is?"

At first, she didn't notice, but after Lori didn't respond, she saw that the little mouse was shaking all over.

"Lori? What's the matter?" Mae asked, wanting to panic herself.

"It's . . . not a person, Mae." Lori said from behind her hands.

"What . . ." She began to ask, but as she moved closer she saw it: A dead opossum. "Oh my god."

There was blood all over the ground around the body, and one of its legs had been severed. This thing looked about as dead as dead got.

"I'm gonna go poke it." Mae said, beginning to walk over.

"NO, DON'T!" Lori screamed. Her voice was wavering like she was crying, and her breaths had become shallow and rushed.

When she turned around to respond, she saw that her friend was crying and shaking even more violently than before. "Woah, Lori, I--"

"No . . . no . . . no. Oh god oh god . . . oh god." Her voice varied from whispers to half shouts between her panting breaths.

Mae rushed over, wrapped her arm around her shoulder, and pulled her away from the body so that she wouldn't see it anymore. "Calm down, it's okay. Just . . ." She paused, looking around, "Look, lets go sit down over there, behind that tree."

Lori nodded, and they dragged themselves over to a small oak tree. The young mouse's breathing was still rapid, and Mae was worried she'd pass out from hyperventilation. All Mae could think to do was sit beside her and try to calm her down. After a few minutes, Lori was starting to breath again, but she still held her face in her hands, crying.

There was a lot going through Mae's mind, but she didn't quite manage to catch any of her thoughts. She sat there, letting the mouse child lean on her. The awkwardness of the situation soon set in on her, and her eyes shifted from Lori to anywhere else as she tried to figure out what to do or say. Could she ask? Is that something people do in situations like this? Her mom had always asked if there was anything she could do, but the people she asked were always . . . calmer.

"Is . . . Is there anything I can do to help you out?" Mae asked. It was worth a shot.

Lori kept sobbing for a moment, but eventually looked up. Her eyes were still watery and puffed up a bit, but she looked like she was coming down. After hesitating, she slowly nodded her head.

Part of Mae was shocked it was that easy, but she was relieved. "Tell me what it is?" She said, trying to keep her voice steady.

"I know it's . . . Uh, abrupt, but . . ." She paused, sat up, and began looking at the ground, "And I don't want to ask too much of you . . ."

"I'm a criminal, Lori, there's not a lot that's too much." Mae joked.

"It's not a crime, though. At least, I'm pretty sure?" She replied. Her voice was still quiet and slowly died as she spoke.

"I'm down for suspicious activity. What's up?"

"Well, I kinda . . ." She trailed off again, but in a split second, a rather sober expression crossed her face, "I want to give the opossum a proper burial." She finally managed to force out.

Mae processed this for a second and turned to Lori, "Alright."

They both stood up, then Lori closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. She opened her eyes and met Mae's eyes.

"Are you sure you want to go over there again? Because I can just . . ." Mae began to trail off.

"Um, uh . . . just bring the body away from the tracks. I think I can handle it if the scene's less gruesome." She interjected, but spoke rather slowly.

Mae did so. Lori waited by the tree while she went to go try and clean up the mess. There wasn't a lot to do, so she picked the body up as gently as she could and examined it a little closer. The poor thing. There was a deep cut under the neck that reached down to its chest. Between that and the missing leg, it probably bled to death.

Bringing the opossum across the tracks, she set it down near the treeline and began looking for leaves. There were some low hanging birch branches, so she snapped as many of as she could. After laying them on the bloody parts, she called out to Lori, "I have the worst of it covered, I think!"

Lori approached, a little more together-looking than before. Still, she looked anxious.

"Looks like a possum salad." Mae said as Lori approached.

She was quiet.

"Sorry." Mae said, realizing how insensitive that remark was.

"No, it's okay. I kind of thought the same thing." She chuckled. "He looks peaceful."

"He does," Mae said, looking around, "but how are we going to bury him?"

"Oh, I hadn't thought that far ahead." Lori replied, hand on her chin.

"Same here."

They stood there for a few minutes and a train passed by, stirring the air around them. The leaves rustled, and one blew away, landing on a small rock.

"Oh!" Lori shouted, breaking the contemplative mood, "We could use rocks, I think. I know I saw that happen in a movie once."

"Really?" Mae said, puzzled.

"Yeah! You just need a wedge shaped rock and you pound the small end into the ground!" She said with enthusiasm.

"Sounds like a lot of work." Mae pointed out.

"Yeah, it kind of does, but I think it'd be worth it." Lori countered.

"Okay then, I'll start looking."

"Alright, I'll watch our friend here."

The trees were pretty dense in this area, so they were difficult to maneuver. While digging through the dead leaves and twigs, she began thinking about the situation. She thought about how strange it was that Lori, a horror movie enthusiast, would freak out at the sight of a dead animal. She thought about the opossum and how its wounds didn't match where it was found. She also thought about the burial and why it was needed. Why not toss it into the woods? That's what her dad would do. There weren't funerals for animals they didn't know. Many of these thoughts began, but they didn't end properly by the time she found rocks for her and Lori.

When Mae emerged from the woods, she could here here mouse friend talking. She was sitting by the opossum and looking at the sky, but she definitely wasn't praying. Mae couldn't catch any of what she was saying, but it seemed like it wasn't her business. When Lori looked at her she didn't try to pry.

"I found some rocks." Mae said, holding up two roughly similar, wedge-shaped stones.

Lori got up without a word, took a stone, and sat down to dig. She'd chosen a spot a couple of feet from the body and began pounding into the packed dirt with more might than Mae had expected. Mae sat down opposite from her and began digging too. The dirt was resistant, and they didn't make much progress at first, but after about half an hour there was a decent divot in the ground. Soon it became easier to dig, and after an hour, the two brown-dusted, sore-armed gravediggers had made a hole about two feet deep.

Mae boosted Lori out of the hole before climbing out herself, and then they both stood there. Each looked from the hole, to the body, and back at each other for a moment. A train horn sounded in the background, signaling its approach. Mae sighed and looked over to Lori, who seemed lost in thought.

"Are you ready for this?" Mae asked abruptly.

Lori broke her thousand-yard stare and looked back at the body. "Yeah, I guess." She replied.

"I'll lower him in." Mae offered.

Lori nodded, and Mae proceeded.

She was unsure how to go about this, so she went into it without delay. Her arms wen under the leaves and the body, trying to gather all the leaves. The body was very soft and squishy, but despite this it was no joy to carry. It didn't smell, but it was cold and somewhat soggy with its own blood. The sensation was more uncomfortable than anything. Mae knelt at the hole and looked over to Lori, who had tears rolling down her face. With a nod, she cued her to lower the body into the hole.

There was no ritual to it, but it wasn't without feeling. As gently as she could, Mae bent over the grave and lowered her arms. She let him slide around a little, till he was touching the ground, and then removed her arms from under him slowly. Sitting back up, she looked down and the view was almost picturesque. His neck arched slightly, like he was looking up, and his tail curled down below him. The branches of birch leaves covered some of the more bloody bits, so he looked like he might be napping on a lazy summer afternoon.

"I've said goodbye already," Lori said, "do you have anything to say?" She looked at Mae almost hopefully, waiting for her to speak.

Thankfully, the train passed by, so Mae had a moment to scramble something together. She would mention how she didn't know him and how he didn't deserve this, and that he could at least rest easy now. The train passed and she opened her mouth.

None of what she thought came out.

"God damned opossum salad." Mae started. Regret hit her instantly, but she carried on. "You deserved chicken and croutons, but all we could find was iceberg lettuce. Sorry about that. I hope there's a lot of that in opossum heaven."

There was silence and Mae felt her face heat up. That was all just horrible, she was sure.

After a moment, though, Lori simply said, "Yeah." She scooped up some loose soil and dropped it onto the body. She was smiling, much to Mae's relief.

The two now had to get to work filling the hole. Before that, though, they went out to collect more branches of leaves. Lori even found a patch of wildflowers, which she tossed into the grave. A few trains passed by, but the two kept filling the hole. By the time they'd finished, the sun was starting to set and the two started to leave.

"Thank you, and sorry for freaking out." Lori said as they walked away.

"It's all good," Mae said, "I think it was important."

Lori looked down again and nodded. She didn't speak for the rest of the walk. Mae couldn't see it, but she was fiddling with a tiny metal opossum inside her jacket pocket.


End file.
